CQC admits failings over patient experts contract

CQC says it should have involved incumbent experts in contract procurement from the “outset”

Detailed breakdown of costs in bid proposals should have been sought

Review found CQC had “no contractual power” to get data from previous suppliers

The Care Quality Commission has admitted “earlier engagement” and greater transparency with its experts by experience “should have been made at the outset” of its 2016 contract procurement.

In an internal review on “lessons learned” from failings in the procurement process, the CQC recognised that where “pay rates may cause controversy” this should have formed part of the contract award discussions. The regulator said it should have asked for a detailed breakdown of costs from bidders, as well as the intended reliance on volunteers. The report said this “would have enabled CQC to engage with the community on the impact of pay changes and the broader impact of volunteers”.

The report also criticised the way the contract winners, Remploy and Choice Support, behaved when discussing pay rates with incumbent experts, saying: “Behaviours on communications must be discussed more clearly at supplier kick-off meetings to ensure greater transparency.”

The experts by experience retendering process was fraught with problems. The process was initially “paused” in summer 2014 due to concerns over the procurement timeline. Once it was resumed, incumbent experts were angered by proposals to cut their hourly rate by more than half. The CQC was forced to intervene on pay rates for the first 12 months of the new contract.

The report said the CQC has “apologised to those individual experts who experienced inconvenience and distress”.

The review, led by CQC engagement director Chris Day, also found the regulator held “no contractual power” to demand information from previous expert by experience suppliers. Due to a lack of exit clauses in the contracts the CQC was unable to obtain the workforce information it required ahead of the tender and was instead “very reliant on… goodwill” from incumbent providers.

Mr Day also criticised the nine month procurement timeline, saying 15 months would have been more appropriate. The decision on awarding the contract overran by 40 days, leaving the new suppliers with less than two months to prepare ahead of the start date. The contracts were awarded in November 2015 and began in February this year.

The CQC uses experts by experience – people with experience of using care services – as part of its provider inspections. It has invested £5.8m in the programme for 2016-17 with the view of doubling their participation in inspections.

Related articles

The Care Quality Commission has ‘paused’ its search for new organisations to recruit, train and manage inspectors with personal experience of health and social care just a month after the service was put out to tender.

Have your say

Only registered users can comment on this article.

More Policy and regulation

Historically ingrained health inequalities in England won’t be reversed by measures in the long-term plan, which require bigger “political and societal” interventions, according to a public health expert whose work contributed to the plan.

The NHS plan is typical of plans written by policy wonks. It has lots of admirable goals but is very weak on practical steps to enable the NHS to achieve them. It pays no attention to operational management and when it does, what it suggests will only make things worse. This lack of attention to

There are huge opportunities to build on the aims set in the long-term plan to help maximise the role of the NHS as an anchor in its local communities by leveraging on it as an employer, procurer, purchaser and also a mode of social change. By Sarah Reed and Dominique Allwood